Bucket conveyer.



No. 7||,555. Patented oet. 2|, |902.

n. w. CHRISTIAN.

BUCKET GONVEYE'R.

. Application med .rm 29, v190:2.) `(No Model.)

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

ROBERT' W. CHRISTIAN, OF BANNACK, MONTANA.

BUCKET coNvEYER.

SBEGIFICATIONformng part of Letters Patent No. 711,555, dated October 21,1902. .Application filed January 29,1902. Serial No. 91.698. (No model.)

To all whom/ it mayconcerf:

Beit known thatI, ROBERT W. CHRISTIAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bannack, in the county of Beaverhead and State of Montana, have invented a new and useful BucketiConveyer,y of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to bucket conveyers, and particularly to that class employed in endless-bucket-chain dredges, of which my copending application, Serial No. 33,455, tiled November 23, 1901, constitutes a part.

The prime object of this invention is to greatly simplify the construction of these conveyers,and especially the pivotal connections between the links thereof, by providing Wearing elements that may be reversed 'andinterchanged throughout, soH that then-number of different kinds of parts necessary to be kept in stock is greatly reduced and the lives of said parts are prolonged.

It is also the object of the invention to simlplify these parts, thereby reducing the cost of construction and renewal to a minimum.

The preferred embodiment of this invention is shown in the accompanying drawings and described in the following specification.

In-said drawings,Figure lis a side elevation of a portion of a bucket-chain constructed in accordance with theinvention. Fig.2 is a view in elevation of the same, one of the joints being shown in section to more clearly illustrate the construction. Fig. 3 is adetail sectional view takenon theline X.X'of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the holding-slides.

Similar numerals of reference designate cor-` responding parts in all the figures of the draw- Ings.

The chain is composed of the usual link ele-A ments 10 and 11, the alternate ones, 10, carry. ing the buckets 12, and said links are pivotally connected at their opposite ends, these connections constituting the subject-matter of the present invention. By'ret'erence especially to Fig. 2 of the drawingsv it will be seen that each link is provided at its opposite ends with spaced eyes 13, said eyes being of equal thickness and being spaced apart distances which are equal to the thickness of each eye. As a result the eyes of one link will fit-.between the eyes of the'other. These eyes are provided with bushingsflt, that are i equal in length to the thicknesses thereof and are provided on their opposite side facesY with flattened portions 15, the adjacentabutting faces of the eye being correspondingly attened, whereby the bushings are held against rotatiou. As clearly shown in Fig.-

l, these flattened portions are arranged to one side of the longitudinal axis of the link, so that when .the bushings are removed and are inserted in reverse relation a new wearing-surface will be presented. Through thealined eyes of the links are passed pivot-pins 16, each of which comprises a straight cylindrical rod, that terminates short of the outer faces of the outer eyes. These eyes are made slightly thicker, than theothers vand are provided in their outer faces with dovetail grooves 17, in which are slidablymounted holding devices 18 in the form of "'dove- By this construction but one form of bushing is necessary, as they are all of the same thickness and size. Furthermore, these bushings may be reversed in the eyes, so as to present new wearing-surfaces. The pivotfpins 16 are simply cut from cylindrical rods and are therefore exceedingly inexpensive. .In like sides are exactly the same, and these also are comparatively inexpensive to manufacture. As a result, therefore, it will be seen that only three different elements are employed at the pivot connections of the links and that these are all very simple and can be manufactured at small cost.

From the foregoing it is thought thatthe construction, operation, and many advantages of the herein-described invention will be apparent to those skilledin the art without further description, and it will beunderstood that various changes in the size, shape, proportion, and minor details of construction manner the fastening-slides 18 upon both- IOO may be resorted to without departing from l'opposite sides of the longitudinal axis of the 4o the spirit or sacrificin g any of the advantages of the invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination with bucket-chain links having alined eyes of equal thickness and spaced apart distances substantially equal to their thicknesses, of bushings of substantially equal length arranged in the eyes, and a pivotpin passing through the bushings of the alined eyes.

2. The combination with bucket-chain links having alined eyes of equal thickness and spaced apart distances substantially equal to their thicknesses, of bushings of su bstantially equal length arranged in the eyes, said bush ings being secured against rotatable movement therein, and a pivot-pin passing through the bushings of the eyes.

3. The combination with a bucket-chain link having an eye, of a bushing detachably fitted in the eye and having a circular opening therethrough, said bushing having its opposing outside faces iiatten ed from end to end, the adjacent abutting faces of the eye being correspondingly flattened, whereby the bushing is held against rotation in the eye, and a pin passing through the bushing.

4:. The combination With a bucket-chain link having an eye, of a bushing detachably fitted in the eye and having a circular opening therethrough, said bushing having its opposing outside faces flattened from end to end, the adjacent abutting faces of the eye being correspondingly iiattened, whereby the bushing is held against rotation in the eye, said iiattened faces of the eye being located upon link, and a pin passing through the bushing.

5. The combination with bucketrchain links having alined eyes, of a pivot-pin passing through the eyes, and means secured to and upon the outer side eyes and arranged to detachably engage the ends of the pin to hold it against longitudinal displacement.

6. The combination with bucket-chain links having alined eyes, of a pivot-pin passing through said eyes, and holding devices secured to the links and having portions located over the ends of the pin to hold it against longitudinal displacement.

7. The combination Withbucket-chain links having alined eyes, of a pivot-pin passing through said eyes and having its ends located Within the outer side faces of the outer eyes, a holding device mounted upon the out-er faces of the outer eyes and secured over the ends of the pin to hold it against longitudinal displacement.

8. The combination with bucket-chain links having alined eyes, of a pivot-pin passing through said eyes and terminating short of the outer side faces of the same, said outer eyes being provided in their outer faces with dovetail grooves that intersect the openings in the eyes, and dovetail holding devices mounted in the grooves and extending over the ends of the pin.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of tWo Witnesses.

ROBERT W. CHRISTIAN.

Witnesses:

F. L. GRAVES, X. RENoIs. 

